March 5, 2009
Wendy

On Sunday I ran the appropriately named Chilli half Marathon in a neighbouring community. It was -20C. I have no idea what it is in Fahrenheit but it was D@# cold. To put it in perspective the sponsor was handing our chapstick and gloves.

I got some great tips on cold weather running/racing from other members of the local tri team that I joined- so I that I thought I would share them with you .

1. Throw away clothing.
   Apparently there is a practice of discarding old sweats and warm up clothing when the whistle blows. The start is littered with old sweat pants and shirts that are collected and taken to the local salvation army. A lot of people visit Sally Ann and buy some throw away clothing specifically for race day.
2. Never carry water/only a sports drink.
   If you plan to carry water, bring a sports drink instead. With the sodium in the drink it is less likely to freeze. I have been out for a run and the top of the cap has frozen. This is annoying.
3. Gels
   Clip your gel to the inside of your top (preferably between layers) so that it stays warm. Using one of those black office clips works. I know that I have a couple of sports bras with built in pockets but I generally don’t want to go fishing between my boobs for a gel when I am running. So having gels closer to your neck is a more refined approach.

The other thing I learned that I did not understand before is that despite the chip in my shoe tracking my time from start to finish, your rank – either age or gender – is based on gun time and not on chip time. So if you are vying for a podium spot you need to be at the front of the pack. I had no idea about this. I generally wait till the crowd thins before I hit the starting line.
I didn’t know this until I noted that the woman whose results were posted ahead of mine had a higher rank even though her chip time was 2 minutes slower. Not that I was going to podium but it is good to know.